A wish upon a star
Sorry for the late update...I've had three tests over the week – a French test – math test and a social studies test...and right now I'm studying for a science test...
Note: If anyone is wondering what Demoralized means, its means to put into disorder; or to confuse.
One more thing: Squeals with joy! *does a twirly dance in the air* (if that's possible) – Thank you so so so so so so much for all the reviews! *falls off chair*
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Chapter Nine
Demoralized
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Kagome looked at herself hopelessly in the mirror. The ball was going to start in no longer than ten minutes. She had a peaceful lunch inside Sango's room and since then she had rushed straight into her own room and started pacing through her wardrobe.
Her floor was buried in dresses and she desperately looked at herself in the mirror.
She had figured out Kikyou was going to wear a full length dress so she had decided on wearing a knee high one.
'Look as different from her as possible'
The statement that someone might compare those two to each other and have Kikyou look better than her had shattered her self confidence completely. So she had settled on looking as different from her as possible so no one would even notice that they even – were – sisters.
She took in a deep breath and examined herself more closely. She wasn't looking bad...to say the truth, she was looking quite beautiful. Her dress was red and short sleeved. A deep V neck with x's below them tying the front of the dress together, ending up on the waist which embedded into a knee high skirt. She was wearing diamond and gold bracelets and one ruby ring on left hand finger.
She had curled her hair and put a band on her head so her hair wouldn't flow over her face.
She sighed...Kikyou would look much better than her...
'Well...that's why I'm trying to look different' she confided in herself and turned around, heading for the door. As her hand turned the doorknob she suddenly pulled back and searched around the room frantically. 'How could I forget?'
She rushed to the bed and pulled out the bag she had brought to the palace. She opened it and stuffed her hand in. Her fingertips closed onto a chain and she pulled the object out of the bag vigorously.
She eyed the golden necklace her grandmother had given her for good luck. A little 'P. K' was hanging from it. She smiled; her grandmother told her it stood for 'Princess Kagy '
She chuckled to herself, 'Princess Kagy' was her personal nickname her grandmother used...Kikyou used it too but it wore off soon. Now no one used it, but having a necklace that reminded her that some people actually did love her once was just as good. She clipped the necklace around her neck and held on to the symbols tightly.
She took a deep breath; this was where she needed some comfort most...when everyone seemed to be against her. Keeping her eyes shut nervousness finally found her way into her stomach. She was loosing all her self- confidence now, if she hadn't lost it all already. Thoughts of not even attending the ball crept into her mind as she stood there rocking back and forth on her heels.
"Its okay...its okay...its okay..." She possible couldn't back down, the ball – was – actually prepared for the soon to be couples, wasn't it?
It felt as if someone had poured hot liquid down her throat and it had found its way to her heart. It felt more like the ball was prepared for Kikyou and Inu-Yasha. All everyone was talking about was Kikyou and Inu- Yasha. Mostly stuff like 'Who could have thought Beauty and the Beast would get engaged?' or 'have you seen the new fiancé? She's a darling!'
She was surprised she hadn't gotten a cut from the necklace, she was holding on to it so tight her hands felt numb. Her stomach was filled with butterflies and it felt caterpillars had found its way down her throat when she heard the music start from the ball room across the courtyard.
She was even more surprised that she hadn't had a heart attack yet from all the pressure she was pouring onto her self. Her breathing had gotten ragged and a strong urge to burst into tears that moment filled her body like a gust of wind filled a room.
"You know, you're going to faint if you don't start breathing"
She opened her eyes in an instant and snapped her head directly towards the source of the voice. She only frowned when she saw it was Inu-Yasha.
"Aren't you going to go to the ball?" He fidgeted with his white button up shirt, loosening the neck a little. She sighed and walked over to the bed and sat down on it. She looked at him and shrugged.
"How does Kikyou look?"
He stopped pulling at his shirt and glanced at her; he sighed and shook his head. "You shouldn't care about how you look so much, you know"
She frowned "I really don't, unless I have a narcissistic sister everyone compares me to"
He sighed again and walked over to her and sat down on the bed beside her. He started fidgeting with his buttons again, opening them and closing them again, hoping that they would get looser. "No one's comparing you to her"
She looked towards the floor "Stop lying, I heard them"
He stopped pulling his shirt and followed her gaze, and glanced towards her before answering "I'm not"
She loosened her grip on her necklace, and finally – after a moment, let it go. "Thanks"
He casually shrugged and started pulling at the neck of his white button up shirt again.
"You're going to rip it if you keep pulling the shirt like that" She grinned at him as he gave her an innocent look.
"But it's so tight!" He started pulling the buttons again "And the buttons are so far away from the holes that when I close them I feel like I'm going to choke" He blinked innocently before looking at her again, Kagome smiled inwardly as his face reminded her of a whining puppy. "I told Kikyou but she said its okay"
She thought for a while before snapping her fingers, he looked at her, confusion evident in his eyes.
"I know, here – I'll sew the buttons closer to the holes so your shirt won't be so tight when you button it up!" She smiled at him before getting up from the bed and walking over to the dressing table. She opened a shelf and peered inside. She smiled, just what she needed!
She picked up the needle and string and walked back over to the bed where Inu-Yasha was sitting, patiently waiting for her to come back with the ingredients required to fix 'his little problem'
She sat on her knees in front of him and unbuttoned his first button. "I'll sew the buttons closer to the hole so it won't be so tight, is it okay with you?"
He nodded bluntly.
Taking the button of she sewed it back on, an inch closer to the hole. Kagome kept her attention on the needle and thread as Inu-Yasha watched her intently.
A pink blush spread across his nose and onto his cheeks as he watched her do her job. He tried to breath evenly, but his demon senses couldn't ignore the feel of her fingers on his chest...he mentally slapped himself.
No need to turn into Miroku, she was just fixing his shirt for him. Nothing else...
This also, however didn't go unnoticed by Kagome. First she was just fixing the buttons on his neck, but now as she reached the abs she gulped down the lump that had appeared in her throat. She shakily undid the fifth button and worked her needle around it. She furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to keep in concentration.
As she finished sewing back on the seventh and last button, she gave a small smile to the pink flushed Inu-Yasha. She quickly buttoned up his shirt for him and sighed. "How's that?"
He moved his arms up and down and stood up once before jumping on the bed and snuggling into the blankets. "I could make it my night shirt"
She grinned "well, we better should make ourselves present at the ball before someone notices that were not there"
He smirked "What about the Kikyou thing?"
She raised an eyebrow "Who – cares?"
He chuckled before getting up and walking towards the door, he opened the door elegantly and motioned Kagome to walk out. She giggled at his antics and walked prissily out of the door before Inu-Yasha smirked and closed it behind them.
As they walked down the staircase a question tugged Kagome's mind "Do I really scream when I'm dreaming?"
He chucked "You slapped me twice when I told you to shut up"
She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue at Inu-Yasha's back. He opened the gates to the courtyard and soon they were walking across a moonlit grassy field. He smiled inwardly. He had lied all about her screaming – snoring – and slapping while she slept. It was always fun to tease women about theses issues.
Most of them would never exit their room in embarrassment.
Some of them would avoid the victim. Few of them would deny it.
Least of them would fight back.
None of them would act so normal about it, and this was what Kagome was doing right now. He frowned slightly at the outcome of the prank...oh well – at least she asked about it.
After walking up the steps he reached the big brown oak doors of the ball room he turned around and waited for Kagome to walk up the stairs and approach him. As she reached him he opened the door and walked through the entrance with Kagome by his side.
Kagome gasped at the outcome of the ball. She had thought that they were just going to call the people of the demon kingdom but it seemed as if they had called people from at least two dozen palaces.
Couples were dancing on the remarkably clean ball room floor, and if they weren't dancing they were either talking to each other, eating/drinking or waiting independently for someone to ask them to dance.
"I'll go look for Sango" She faced Inu-Yasha. He nodded, and with that she scurried off. She had a hard time squeezing through the limited amount of space due to the majority of people taking up the first floor ball room.
After figuring out Sango wasn't here she decided to look on the second floor.
After vigorous amounts of pushing and squeezing through couples and groups of chitter chatters, she finally found the staircase. She mentally thanked herself for not wearing a long dress. It would have already been ripped and torn, if not before, it would have been now.
Climbing the stairs, she figured out that the second floor dance was much different. The first floor was filled with hopeless romantics in their 20's or older, but the second floor was filled with people her age and the music was much livelier.
As she scanned the ball room two people caught her attention. One – Sango, who was drinking champagne alone by a large window, two – Kikyou, who was giggling at a joke one girl made.
Kagome dashed straight for Sango. Finally reaching the table Sango was standing behind she opened her mouth once and twice trying to say something but catching her breath was more important.
Sango smiled, relieved to see someone she knew. "What took you so long?"
Kagome raised an eyebrow at Sango and blushed at the idea of telling her that she had been delayed because she had to fix the buttons on Inu-Yasha's shirt. She decided she would tell a little white lie "I had to fix the laces on my shirt" She pointed to the laces on her dress. Sango nodded.
"It's a good thing you didn't wear a long one, one out of ten chances there's going to be a slow dance...all of the rest are fast one's like these" she nodded towards the musicians who were playing their instruments like crazy.
"Yeah I know" Kagome grinned 'Kikyou can't dance!' Thinking about her, she turned her direction to what she was wearing. It was quite similar to what she had worn on her arrival. Just a few more diamonds on the sleeves and the color was bright pink instead. She shrugged, pink wasn't Kagome's favorite color...so in her point of view, Kikyou looked like a disgrace to womankind.
x~x~x~x~x
It had been an hour and a half since the ball had started and Kagome hadn't danced once...it wasn't like she didn't want to – it was because there was no one to dance with. She had left Sango in search of her favorite dish – chocolate pudding and right now, she hadn't found one plate that served it.
In Kagome's view, the ball completely sucked. One – there was no chocolate pudding and two –
Kagome thought for a while ... actually, that was the only reason she didn't like the ball.
She finally gave up and leaned against a wall; if there was nothing to do she should rather just search for cute couples and point them out to a friend – or in her case, herself. She didn't even notice the person she was standing next to as she smiled to herself as she spotted a cuddling couple.
She bit her lip, trying to keep in a giggle as she saw Kikyou and her friends point at certain men. She lifted an eyebrow as Kikyou pointed in her direction and giggled. Confused, she looked around hoping that they weren't talking about her but someone else.
She sighed as she found the source of their giggling. Inu-Yasha was standing next to her, shaking his head, glancing quickly at Kikyou, obviously annoyed by them. She was about to walk away from him, heading towards the balcony when another thought struck her head.
She flinched. How awkward being caught with your sisters fiancé. She turned back at Inu-Yasha who had started to drink his champagne. Something tugged on her mind, it was as if she had forgotten to ask him something....
"Tell that ass to leave me alone"
She blinked, was he referring 'ass' to Kikyou? Hoping so she answered him casually "Just ignore 'em"
He shot her an annoyed glance that gave her the impression that he had been trying to do so the last hour. Shrugging she decided she would find another spot to stand and try to find more humorous couples.
"You haven't danced"
She turned around to see Inu-Yasha looking at her nonchalantly. She rolled her eyes.
"Neither have you"
He shrugged "So? I'm a guy, we don't have to dance, but girls do"
Kagome burned up at the last comment "Who says?"
"I do" he shrugged as if it was obvious.
She started tapping her foot impatiently on the floor, just like an ego head like him to say something like that. "Well, I bet you haven't danced because you don't even know how!"
He moved his gaze away from the dancing couples "Are you saying that I can't dance?"
She nodded, crossing her arms over her shoulders "That's what I said didn't I?"
He frowned "You wanna bet on that?"
"Depends"
He smirked, and before Kagome knew what was coming on, he had dragged her to the middle of the ball room. The music stopped, and suddenly, a fast tune began. She didn't know what was happening. One moment she was looking up, confused – at Inu-Yasha's smirking face and the next moment – he was swirling making her feel dizzy to the bone.
That didn't matter though. It was as if Inu-Yasha was controlling himself AND her. She just had to stay on foot and breath if that even mattered. She panicked as she felt the crowd parted to give them room.
Kagome was familiar with the dance he was doing; she had watched her mother teach it to Kikyou two years ago. They had thought she was too young to even practice, but she had revised it in her room again and again until she was perfect at it.
Kagome kept in her urge to scream at him that moment; he had pulled her in and spun her out giving her a change to take a breath.
She hopelessly tried to follow him, her mind was exploding with curses that wanted to be said, but she kept it in. As they shifted into waltz position he turned her around, he pulled her making her back crash onto his chest.
Just as she thought she could pull away his hand moved up her arms and spun her around, this time leaning her in into an extravagant dip.
The music stopped just at that moment. Kagome blinked and kept her eyes closed. After a moment she opened them, and stared up at the grinning half- demon.
Nothing could explain how mad she was at that moment.
Absolutely Nothing.
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He grinned wider as he heard the stunned audience break into clapping. He shifted his gaze towards the audience, not letting go of Kagome, who was still in her dip. He really didn't care if she was mad – she probably wanted all the glory anyways.
"Let go of me!" hissed a voice he had completely forgotten about.
He snapped his head back towards Kagome and examined her face.
That was when his grin slipped off his face completely.
Only one word could describe what he saw in those once peaceful, joyful eyes of hers.
She was completely – livid.
Another song started, couples filling in the ball room floor again – only a few remained still to watch the sudden exchange.
He pulled her up, not saying a word. He could tell that it was taking every muscle in her body to restrain her from what she wished to do.
Clearing his head of all concerns, he opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything she pulled out of his grasp and stormed out of the room, leaving him in a very confused state.
He stood there and watched after the disappearing figure, he pondered on his thoughts for a moment, dissolving the second feature he had seen in her eyes. He had seen fear.
He furrowed his eyebrows and turned around, heading back to the champagne table.
What had he done?
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She ran down the stairs, not even glancing once to see the stares of many teens on her back. Reaching the ground ball room she didn't even bother saying 'excuse me' as she pushed through the crowd once again.
She rushed out of the open ball room doors and ran into the courtyard. She sighed and slowed down her pace. Why was she running? She shook her head and started to walk, she didn't even know why she had gotten so mad...
Actually...she did.
It wasn't that he had pulled her onto the ballroom to dance but it was when he had twirled her, she had glanced at his face and anger rose like steaming water. That smirk – grin of his...
That moment, she had realized what a stranger she was here. She had gotten so *friendly* with people she had known for only two weeks and here she was letting her sisters fiancé dance with her?
She sighed...she felt as if she had committed the largest sin in the world.
Not only that, his smirk – or grin, or whatever he did seemed so – demon like, thoughts of him killing her whenever he wished to ran through her mind like a hurricane, scaring the wits out of her.
She felt as if –he - was controlling her, as if –he- had power over her, and as if – he – could do whatever he wanted with her. The only emotion she had felt were fear and anger.
She didn't know what had come over her. But now, she had never felt so alone in the world.
She just wanted everything to change back before her grandmother had died, and before Kikyou had become such a ... snob.
She opened the castle doors quietly and entered them solemnly. The castle was quiet and dimly lit. She dragged her feet up the staircase...god...how many staircases were in this kingdom?
As she reached her room she opened it and stared in it for a minute. There was nothing interesting in here...
She closed her room and turned around. She started walking down the corridor, she sighed...couldn't anything interesting happen around now?
She started to hum a song she had heard somewhere...possibly in the ball. It was a nice song, slow and sweet.
Just as she was heading back into her room the noise of a glass shattering into many pieces reached her ears.
She turned around and stared at the broken glass.
She gasped...the glass was covered with bright, fresh blood.
She stood there for a while, not wanting to move, who could throw such a thing down?
She looked upwards, wanting to figure out who owned the room that was placed above the place she was standing.
No body was staying in that room, well, that was what she heard. She shifted her gaze back towards the bloody glass. A single bead caught her attention; it seemed to be stuck on the blood
She flinched. Wasn't that...the pearl from Kikyou's bracelet?
x~x~x~x~x~x
She rushed up the stairs as fast as she could. Tripping over once, but getting up as fast she could, not caring about the rash she had gotten.
What if someone was hurting her big sister?
Even though she disliked her sister for so much torture periods...she didn't have that much of a cold heart to let someone murder her.
As she reached to her door she tried the doorknob but someone had locked it. She pounded on the door.
"Open the door! KIKYOU? Can you hear me? Open the door!"
All she heard was more glass breaking and what was possibly a scream cut short.
Starting to feel desperate she took a few steps back and slammed her body against the door. The door swung open, making Kagome stagger into the room. She looked up from the ground and her eyes opened wide in shock.
There was no murderer in the room, it was just Kikyou. Her wrist and hands were covered in blood, which was slowly dripping onto the floor. An empty broken in half champagne bottle was raised up high in the air, aiming for her wrist once again.
Before she could lower it Kagome rushed over and smacked the bottle out of her hands. Kikyou looked at her, and for the first time in many years Kagome actually saw tears.
She made another attempt to snatch the broken bottle but Kagome held her undamaged hand and before she could do anything else, she slapped her.
Everything went into elapsed silence. Before Kagome could do anything else, Kikyou started crying.
Kagome stared at her sister in shock. When had her sister come into the castle...wasn't she just at the ball? She could've come when she was dancing...
But the statement that had overpowered that was what the hell happened to her? She opened her mouth to speak but she couldn't find any words to describe the shock that had just emitted throughout her body...her sister had tried to commit suicide?
Finding no words that could describe the situation she was in, Kagome did the only thing that came in her mind, she pulled Kikyou in a tight embrace. Kagome didn't speak...right now; her sister was having some major crisis and seemed best to have her start the conversation. Kagome didn't have to wait long though.
"I didn't mean to..." her voice was unstable and if Kagome wasn't hugging her so tightly, Kikyou could've fallen onto the ground.
Kagome strained her head as she heard that sentence...she didn't meant to do what?
"He forced me..."
Kagome froze...this didn't sound good; someone forced her to do something? "K- Kikyou? Who? Who forced you?"
Kagome winced as she started to cry even harder.
"He forced me! I made him kill..." Her crying turned into wails "I had no choice"
Kagome struggled as she tried to keep her sister afoot, if she kept this crying up half of the castle would be in the room in no time. "Kikyou calm down! It's okay!"
"It's not okay...he's here-."
"Kikyou, whatever you did – calm down about it!" Kagome practically yelled out at her sister.
"Kagome, I'm sorry..."
Kagome sighed in confusion as Kikyou hugged her back, her crying were just sniffled sobs and it seemed as if she had found out how to stand again.
"Just promise me one thing..."
Kagome eyed her sister warily, what kind of promise would she need right now? "Yeah?"
"Promise you'll protect me"
Kagome sighed, this had gone to downright scary to an extremely weird conversation, not thinking about what she was putting herself into she replied "I promise"
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*sighs* well – there you go... I wonder what happened to Kikyou {grins} don't you?
Kagome's getting smarter! I just thought the aspect of Kagome staying at the castle for only two weeks and having her sisters fiancé dance with her etc. just seemed too openly for someone's good so I just had to put that little part where Kagome actually realizes what the heck she's here for.
Don't worry though – she goes back to her loving self eventually, the chapter was really short and yeah, I know u guyz want some fluff in it – but what about some fluff in the next chapter eh?
Kagome hasn't forgotten about the secret room you know...
Sorry for the late update...I've had three tests over the week – a French test – math test and a social studies test...and right now I'm studying for a science test...
Note: If anyone is wondering what Demoralized means, its means to put into disorder; or to confuse.
One more thing: Squeals with joy! *does a twirly dance in the air* (if that's possible) – Thank you so so so so so so much for all the reviews! *falls off chair*
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Chapter Nine
Demoralized
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Kagome looked at herself hopelessly in the mirror. The ball was going to start in no longer than ten minutes. She had a peaceful lunch inside Sango's room and since then she had rushed straight into her own room and started pacing through her wardrobe.
Her floor was buried in dresses and she desperately looked at herself in the mirror.
She had figured out Kikyou was going to wear a full length dress so she had decided on wearing a knee high one.
'Look as different from her as possible'
The statement that someone might compare those two to each other and have Kikyou look better than her had shattered her self confidence completely. So she had settled on looking as different from her as possible so no one would even notice that they even – were – sisters.
She took in a deep breath and examined herself more closely. She wasn't looking bad...to say the truth, she was looking quite beautiful. Her dress was red and short sleeved. A deep V neck with x's below them tying the front of the dress together, ending up on the waist which embedded into a knee high skirt. She was wearing diamond and gold bracelets and one ruby ring on left hand finger.
She had curled her hair and put a band on her head so her hair wouldn't flow over her face.
She sighed...Kikyou would look much better than her...
'Well...that's why I'm trying to look different' she confided in herself and turned around, heading for the door. As her hand turned the doorknob she suddenly pulled back and searched around the room frantically. 'How could I forget?'
She rushed to the bed and pulled out the bag she had brought to the palace. She opened it and stuffed her hand in. Her fingertips closed onto a chain and she pulled the object out of the bag vigorously.
She eyed the golden necklace her grandmother had given her for good luck. A little 'P. K' was hanging from it. She smiled; her grandmother told her it stood for 'Princess Kagy '
She chuckled to herself, 'Princess Kagy' was her personal nickname her grandmother used...Kikyou used it too but it wore off soon. Now no one used it, but having a necklace that reminded her that some people actually did love her once was just as good. She clipped the necklace around her neck and held on to the symbols tightly.
She took a deep breath; this was where she needed some comfort most...when everyone seemed to be against her. Keeping her eyes shut nervousness finally found her way into her stomach. She was loosing all her self- confidence now, if she hadn't lost it all already. Thoughts of not even attending the ball crept into her mind as she stood there rocking back and forth on her heels.
"Its okay...its okay...its okay..." She possible couldn't back down, the ball – was – actually prepared for the soon to be couples, wasn't it?
It felt as if someone had poured hot liquid down her throat and it had found its way to her heart. It felt more like the ball was prepared for Kikyou and Inu-Yasha. All everyone was talking about was Kikyou and Inu- Yasha. Mostly stuff like 'Who could have thought Beauty and the Beast would get engaged?' or 'have you seen the new fiancé? She's a darling!'
She was surprised she hadn't gotten a cut from the necklace, she was holding on to it so tight her hands felt numb. Her stomach was filled with butterflies and it felt caterpillars had found its way down her throat when she heard the music start from the ball room across the courtyard.
She was even more surprised that she hadn't had a heart attack yet from all the pressure she was pouring onto her self. Her breathing had gotten ragged and a strong urge to burst into tears that moment filled her body like a gust of wind filled a room.
"You know, you're going to faint if you don't start breathing"
She opened her eyes in an instant and snapped her head directly towards the source of the voice. She only frowned when she saw it was Inu-Yasha.
"Aren't you going to go to the ball?" He fidgeted with his white button up shirt, loosening the neck a little. She sighed and walked over to the bed and sat down on it. She looked at him and shrugged.
"How does Kikyou look?"
He stopped pulling at his shirt and glanced at her; he sighed and shook his head. "You shouldn't care about how you look so much, you know"
She frowned "I really don't, unless I have a narcissistic sister everyone compares me to"
He sighed again and walked over to her and sat down on the bed beside her. He started fidgeting with his buttons again, opening them and closing them again, hoping that they would get looser. "No one's comparing you to her"
She looked towards the floor "Stop lying, I heard them"
He stopped pulling his shirt and followed her gaze, and glanced towards her before answering "I'm not"
She loosened her grip on her necklace, and finally – after a moment, let it go. "Thanks"
He casually shrugged and started pulling at the neck of his white button up shirt again.
"You're going to rip it if you keep pulling the shirt like that" She grinned at him as he gave her an innocent look.
"But it's so tight!" He started pulling the buttons again "And the buttons are so far away from the holes that when I close them I feel like I'm going to choke" He blinked innocently before looking at her again, Kagome smiled inwardly as his face reminded her of a whining puppy. "I told Kikyou but she said its okay"
She thought for a while before snapping her fingers, he looked at her, confusion evident in his eyes.
"I know, here – I'll sew the buttons closer to the holes so your shirt won't be so tight when you button it up!" She smiled at him before getting up from the bed and walking over to the dressing table. She opened a shelf and peered inside. She smiled, just what she needed!
She picked up the needle and string and walked back over to the bed where Inu-Yasha was sitting, patiently waiting for her to come back with the ingredients required to fix 'his little problem'
She sat on her knees in front of him and unbuttoned his first button. "I'll sew the buttons closer to the hole so it won't be so tight, is it okay with you?"
He nodded bluntly.
Taking the button of she sewed it back on, an inch closer to the hole. Kagome kept her attention on the needle and thread as Inu-Yasha watched her intently.
A pink blush spread across his nose and onto his cheeks as he watched her do her job. He tried to breath evenly, but his demon senses couldn't ignore the feel of her fingers on his chest...he mentally slapped himself.
No need to turn into Miroku, she was just fixing his shirt for him. Nothing else...
This also, however didn't go unnoticed by Kagome. First she was just fixing the buttons on his neck, but now as she reached the abs she gulped down the lump that had appeared in her throat. She shakily undid the fifth button and worked her needle around it. She furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to keep in concentration.
As she finished sewing back on the seventh and last button, she gave a small smile to the pink flushed Inu-Yasha. She quickly buttoned up his shirt for him and sighed. "How's that?"
He moved his arms up and down and stood up once before jumping on the bed and snuggling into the blankets. "I could make it my night shirt"
She grinned "well, we better should make ourselves present at the ball before someone notices that were not there"
He smirked "What about the Kikyou thing?"
She raised an eyebrow "Who – cares?"
He chuckled before getting up and walking towards the door, he opened the door elegantly and motioned Kagome to walk out. She giggled at his antics and walked prissily out of the door before Inu-Yasha smirked and closed it behind them.
As they walked down the staircase a question tugged Kagome's mind "Do I really scream when I'm dreaming?"
He chucked "You slapped me twice when I told you to shut up"
She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue at Inu-Yasha's back. He opened the gates to the courtyard and soon they were walking across a moonlit grassy field. He smiled inwardly. He had lied all about her screaming – snoring – and slapping while she slept. It was always fun to tease women about theses issues.
Most of them would never exit their room in embarrassment.
Some of them would avoid the victim. Few of them would deny it.
Least of them would fight back.
None of them would act so normal about it, and this was what Kagome was doing right now. He frowned slightly at the outcome of the prank...oh well – at least she asked about it.
After walking up the steps he reached the big brown oak doors of the ball room he turned around and waited for Kagome to walk up the stairs and approach him. As she reached him he opened the door and walked through the entrance with Kagome by his side.
Kagome gasped at the outcome of the ball. She had thought that they were just going to call the people of the demon kingdom but it seemed as if they had called people from at least two dozen palaces.
Couples were dancing on the remarkably clean ball room floor, and if they weren't dancing they were either talking to each other, eating/drinking or waiting independently for someone to ask them to dance.
"I'll go look for Sango" She faced Inu-Yasha. He nodded, and with that she scurried off. She had a hard time squeezing through the limited amount of space due to the majority of people taking up the first floor ball room.
After figuring out Sango wasn't here she decided to look on the second floor.
After vigorous amounts of pushing and squeezing through couples and groups of chitter chatters, she finally found the staircase. She mentally thanked herself for not wearing a long dress. It would have already been ripped and torn, if not before, it would have been now.
Climbing the stairs, she figured out that the second floor dance was much different. The first floor was filled with hopeless romantics in their 20's or older, but the second floor was filled with people her age and the music was much livelier.
As she scanned the ball room two people caught her attention. One – Sango, who was drinking champagne alone by a large window, two – Kikyou, who was giggling at a joke one girl made.
Kagome dashed straight for Sango. Finally reaching the table Sango was standing behind she opened her mouth once and twice trying to say something but catching her breath was more important.
Sango smiled, relieved to see someone she knew. "What took you so long?"
Kagome raised an eyebrow at Sango and blushed at the idea of telling her that she had been delayed because she had to fix the buttons on Inu-Yasha's shirt. She decided she would tell a little white lie "I had to fix the laces on my shirt" She pointed to the laces on her dress. Sango nodded.
"It's a good thing you didn't wear a long one, one out of ten chances there's going to be a slow dance...all of the rest are fast one's like these" she nodded towards the musicians who were playing their instruments like crazy.
"Yeah I know" Kagome grinned 'Kikyou can't dance!' Thinking about her, she turned her direction to what she was wearing. It was quite similar to what she had worn on her arrival. Just a few more diamonds on the sleeves and the color was bright pink instead. She shrugged, pink wasn't Kagome's favorite color...so in her point of view, Kikyou looked like a disgrace to womankind.
x~x~x~x~x
It had been an hour and a half since the ball had started and Kagome hadn't danced once...it wasn't like she didn't want to – it was because there was no one to dance with. She had left Sango in search of her favorite dish – chocolate pudding and right now, she hadn't found one plate that served it.
In Kagome's view, the ball completely sucked. One – there was no chocolate pudding and two –
Kagome thought for a while ... actually, that was the only reason she didn't like the ball.
She finally gave up and leaned against a wall; if there was nothing to do she should rather just search for cute couples and point them out to a friend – or in her case, herself. She didn't even notice the person she was standing next to as she smiled to herself as she spotted a cuddling couple.
She bit her lip, trying to keep in a giggle as she saw Kikyou and her friends point at certain men. She lifted an eyebrow as Kikyou pointed in her direction and giggled. Confused, she looked around hoping that they weren't talking about her but someone else.
She sighed as she found the source of their giggling. Inu-Yasha was standing next to her, shaking his head, glancing quickly at Kikyou, obviously annoyed by them. She was about to walk away from him, heading towards the balcony when another thought struck her head.
She flinched. How awkward being caught with your sisters fiancé. She turned back at Inu-Yasha who had started to drink his champagne. Something tugged on her mind, it was as if she had forgotten to ask him something....
"Tell that ass to leave me alone"
She blinked, was he referring 'ass' to Kikyou? Hoping so she answered him casually "Just ignore 'em"
He shot her an annoyed glance that gave her the impression that he had been trying to do so the last hour. Shrugging she decided she would find another spot to stand and try to find more humorous couples.
"You haven't danced"
She turned around to see Inu-Yasha looking at her nonchalantly. She rolled her eyes.
"Neither have you"
He shrugged "So? I'm a guy, we don't have to dance, but girls do"
Kagome burned up at the last comment "Who says?"
"I do" he shrugged as if it was obvious.
She started tapping her foot impatiently on the floor, just like an ego head like him to say something like that. "Well, I bet you haven't danced because you don't even know how!"
He moved his gaze away from the dancing couples "Are you saying that I can't dance?"
She nodded, crossing her arms over her shoulders "That's what I said didn't I?"
He frowned "You wanna bet on that?"
"Depends"
He smirked, and before Kagome knew what was coming on, he had dragged her to the middle of the ball room. The music stopped, and suddenly, a fast tune began. She didn't know what was happening. One moment she was looking up, confused – at Inu-Yasha's smirking face and the next moment – he was swirling making her feel dizzy to the bone.
That didn't matter though. It was as if Inu-Yasha was controlling himself AND her. She just had to stay on foot and breath if that even mattered. She panicked as she felt the crowd parted to give them room.
Kagome was familiar with the dance he was doing; she had watched her mother teach it to Kikyou two years ago. They had thought she was too young to even practice, but she had revised it in her room again and again until she was perfect at it.
Kagome kept in her urge to scream at him that moment; he had pulled her in and spun her out giving her a change to take a breath.
She hopelessly tried to follow him, her mind was exploding with curses that wanted to be said, but she kept it in. As they shifted into waltz position he turned her around, he pulled her making her back crash onto his chest.
Just as she thought she could pull away his hand moved up her arms and spun her around, this time leaning her in into an extravagant dip.
The music stopped just at that moment. Kagome blinked and kept her eyes closed. After a moment she opened them, and stared up at the grinning half- demon.
Nothing could explain how mad she was at that moment.
Absolutely Nothing.
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He grinned wider as he heard the stunned audience break into clapping. He shifted his gaze towards the audience, not letting go of Kagome, who was still in her dip. He really didn't care if she was mad – she probably wanted all the glory anyways.
"Let go of me!" hissed a voice he had completely forgotten about.
He snapped his head back towards Kagome and examined her face.
That was when his grin slipped off his face completely.
Only one word could describe what he saw in those once peaceful, joyful eyes of hers.
She was completely – livid.
Another song started, couples filling in the ball room floor again – only a few remained still to watch the sudden exchange.
He pulled her up, not saying a word. He could tell that it was taking every muscle in her body to restrain her from what she wished to do.
Clearing his head of all concerns, he opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything she pulled out of his grasp and stormed out of the room, leaving him in a very confused state.
He stood there and watched after the disappearing figure, he pondered on his thoughts for a moment, dissolving the second feature he had seen in her eyes. He had seen fear.
He furrowed his eyebrows and turned around, heading back to the champagne table.
What had he done?
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She ran down the stairs, not even glancing once to see the stares of many teens on her back. Reaching the ground ball room she didn't even bother saying 'excuse me' as she pushed through the crowd once again.
She rushed out of the open ball room doors and ran into the courtyard. She sighed and slowed down her pace. Why was she running? She shook her head and started to walk, she didn't even know why she had gotten so mad...
Actually...she did.
It wasn't that he had pulled her onto the ballroom to dance but it was when he had twirled her, she had glanced at his face and anger rose like steaming water. That smirk – grin of his...
That moment, she had realized what a stranger she was here. She had gotten so *friendly* with people she had known for only two weeks and here she was letting her sisters fiancé dance with her?
She sighed...she felt as if she had committed the largest sin in the world.
Not only that, his smirk – or grin, or whatever he did seemed so – demon like, thoughts of him killing her whenever he wished to ran through her mind like a hurricane, scaring the wits out of her.
She felt as if –he - was controlling her, as if –he- had power over her, and as if – he – could do whatever he wanted with her. The only emotion she had felt were fear and anger.
She didn't know what had come over her. But now, she had never felt so alone in the world.
She just wanted everything to change back before her grandmother had died, and before Kikyou had become such a ... snob.
She opened the castle doors quietly and entered them solemnly. The castle was quiet and dimly lit. She dragged her feet up the staircase...god...how many staircases were in this kingdom?
As she reached her room she opened it and stared in it for a minute. There was nothing interesting in here...
She closed her room and turned around. She started walking down the corridor, she sighed...couldn't anything interesting happen around now?
She started to hum a song she had heard somewhere...possibly in the ball. It was a nice song, slow and sweet.
Just as she was heading back into her room the noise of a glass shattering into many pieces reached her ears.
She turned around and stared at the broken glass.
She gasped...the glass was covered with bright, fresh blood.
She stood there for a while, not wanting to move, who could throw such a thing down?
She looked upwards, wanting to figure out who owned the room that was placed above the place she was standing.
No body was staying in that room, well, that was what she heard. She shifted her gaze back towards the bloody glass. A single bead caught her attention; it seemed to be stuck on the blood
She flinched. Wasn't that...the pearl from Kikyou's bracelet?
x~x~x~x~x~x
She rushed up the stairs as fast as she could. Tripping over once, but getting up as fast she could, not caring about the rash she had gotten.
What if someone was hurting her big sister?
Even though she disliked her sister for so much torture periods...she didn't have that much of a cold heart to let someone murder her.
As she reached to her door she tried the doorknob but someone had locked it. She pounded on the door.
"Open the door! KIKYOU? Can you hear me? Open the door!"
All she heard was more glass breaking and what was possibly a scream cut short.
Starting to feel desperate she took a few steps back and slammed her body against the door. The door swung open, making Kagome stagger into the room. She looked up from the ground and her eyes opened wide in shock.
There was no murderer in the room, it was just Kikyou. Her wrist and hands were covered in blood, which was slowly dripping onto the floor. An empty broken in half champagne bottle was raised up high in the air, aiming for her wrist once again.
Before she could lower it Kagome rushed over and smacked the bottle out of her hands. Kikyou looked at her, and for the first time in many years Kagome actually saw tears.
She made another attempt to snatch the broken bottle but Kagome held her undamaged hand and before she could do anything else, she slapped her.
Everything went into elapsed silence. Before Kagome could do anything else, Kikyou started crying.
Kagome stared at her sister in shock. When had her sister come into the castle...wasn't she just at the ball? She could've come when she was dancing...
But the statement that had overpowered that was what the hell happened to her? She opened her mouth to speak but she couldn't find any words to describe the shock that had just emitted throughout her body...her sister had tried to commit suicide?
Finding no words that could describe the situation she was in, Kagome did the only thing that came in her mind, she pulled Kikyou in a tight embrace. Kagome didn't speak...right now; her sister was having some major crisis and seemed best to have her start the conversation. Kagome didn't have to wait long though.
"I didn't mean to..." her voice was unstable and if Kagome wasn't hugging her so tightly, Kikyou could've fallen onto the ground.
Kagome strained her head as she heard that sentence...she didn't meant to do what?
"He forced me..."
Kagome froze...this didn't sound good; someone forced her to do something? "K- Kikyou? Who? Who forced you?"
Kagome winced as she started to cry even harder.
"He forced me! I made him kill..." Her crying turned into wails "I had no choice"
Kagome struggled as she tried to keep her sister afoot, if she kept this crying up half of the castle would be in the room in no time. "Kikyou calm down! It's okay!"
"It's not okay...he's here-."
"Kikyou, whatever you did – calm down about it!" Kagome practically yelled out at her sister.
"Kagome, I'm sorry..."
Kagome sighed in confusion as Kikyou hugged her back, her crying were just sniffled sobs and it seemed as if she had found out how to stand again.
"Just promise me one thing..."
Kagome eyed her sister warily, what kind of promise would she need right now? "Yeah?"
"Promise you'll protect me"
Kagome sighed, this had gone to downright scary to an extremely weird conversation, not thinking about what she was putting herself into she replied "I promise"
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*sighs* well – there you go... I wonder what happened to Kikyou {grins} don't you?
Kagome's getting smarter! I just thought the aspect of Kagome staying at the castle for only two weeks and having her sisters fiancé dance with her etc. just seemed too openly for someone's good so I just had to put that little part where Kagome actually realizes what the heck she's here for.
Don't worry though – she goes back to her loving self eventually, the chapter was really short and yeah, I know u guyz want some fluff in it – but what about some fluff in the next chapter eh?
Kagome hasn't forgotten about the secret room you know...